Endoscopic procedures may be used in surgery. The term “endoscopic” refers to all types of minimally invasive surgical procedures including laparoscopic and arthroscopic procedures. Endoscopic surgery may provide reduced trauma, faster recovery, reduced risk of infection, and reduced scarring as compared to open surgery.
In order to introduce an endoscopic instrumentation into a body cavity, a device known as a “trocar” may be used to puncture and/or cannulate the wall of the body cavity. Trocars may comprise an obturator and a cannula. The obturator may include a sharply pointed or appropriately structured tip that facilitates penetration of the body cavity wall. The cannula provides a channel or opening through the body cavity wall through which endoscopic instruments may be introduced and removed by the surgeon.
Endoscopic surgery might be performed with an insufflatory fluid present within the body cavity, such as carbon dioxide, to provide adequate space to perform the intended surgical procedures. The insufflated cavity is generally under pressure and is sometimes referred to as being in a state of pneumoperitoneum. A seal or sealing arrangement can be integrally formed to a cannula, or directly attachable to the cannula, in order to maintain a state of pneumoperitoneum. The seals will generally prevent the insufflatory fluid from escaping while an endoscopic instrument may be positioned in the trocar cannula.
Some examples of trocars and related devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,385,553 entitled “Trocar with Floating Septum Seal,” issued Jan. 31, 1995, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,732 entitled “Trocar with Improved Universal Seal,” issued May 13, 1997, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pat. No. 5,709,671 entitled “Trocar Having an Improved Tip Configuration,” issued Jan. 20, 1998, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pat. No. 5,385,572 entitled “Trocar for Endoscopic Surgery,” issued Jan. 31, 1995, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pat. No. 5,609,604 entitled “Trocar with Improved Blade Attachment,” issued Mar. 11, 1997, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pat. No. 5,697,913 entitled “Trocar Including Cannula with Stepped Region,” issued Dec. 16, 1997, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pat. No. 5,817,061 entitled “Trocar Assembly,” issued Oct. 6, 1998, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pat. No. 5,449,370 entitled “Blunt Tipped Ultrasonic Trocar,” issued Sep. 12, 1995, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pat. No. 8,221,364 entitled “Trocar Obturator,” issued Jul. 17, 2012; and U.S. Pat. No. 8,728,037, entitled “Pleated Trocar Seal,” issued on May 20, 2014, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.
Some surgical systems provide robotic control of a surgical instrument. With minimally invasive robotic surgery, surgical operations may be performed through a small incision in the patient's body. A robotic surgical system may be used with various types of surgical instruments, including but not limited to surgical staplers, ultrasonic instruments, electrosurgical instruments, and/or various other kinds of instruments, as will be described in greater detail below. An example of a robotic surgical system is the DAVINCI™ system by Intuitive Surgical, Inc., of Sunnyvale, Calif. By way of further example, one or more aspects of robotic surgical systems are disclosed in the following: U.S. Pat. No. 5,792,135, entitled “Articulated Surgical Instrument For Performing Minimally Invasive Surgery With Enhanced Dexterity and Sensitivity,” issued Aug. 11, 1998, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pat. No. 5,817,084, entitled “Remote Center Positioning Device with Flexible Drive,” issued Oct. 6, 1998, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,193, entitled “Automated Endoscope System for Optimal Positioning,” issued Mar. 2, 1999, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pat. No. 6,231,565, entitled “Robotic Arm DLUS for Performing Surgical Tasks,” issued May 15, 2001, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pat. No. 6,783,524, entitled “Robotic Surgical Tool with Ultrasound Cauterizing and Cutting Instrument,” issued Aug. 31, 2004, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pat. No. 6,364,888, entitled “Alignment of Master and Slave in a Minimally Invasive Surgical Apparatus,” issued Apr. 2, 2002, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pat. No. 7,524,320, entitled “Mechanical Actuator Interface System for Robotic Surgical Tools,” issued Apr. 28, 2009, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pat. No. 7,691,098, entitled “Platform Link Wrist Mechanism,” issued Apr. 6, 2010, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pat. No. 7,806,891, entitled “Repositioning and Reorientation of Master/Slave Relationship in Minimally Invasive Telesurgery,” issued Oct. 5, 2010, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,824,401, entitled “Surgical Tool With Writed Monopolar Electrosurgical End Effectors,” issued Nov. 2, 2010, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.
Additional examples of instruments that may be incorporated with a robotic surgical system are described in U.S. Pub. No. 2013/0012957, entitled “Automated End Effector Component Reloading System for Use with a Robotic System, published Jan. 10, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,844,789, issued Sep. 30, 2014, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pub. No. 2012/0199630, entitled “Robotically-Controlled Surgical Instrument with Force-Feedback Capabilities,” published Aug. 9, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,820,605, issued Sep. 2, 2014, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pub. No. 2012/0132450, entitled “Shiftable Drive Interface for Robotically-Controlled Surgical Tool,” published May 31, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,616,431, issued Dec. 31, 2013, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pub. No. 2012/0199633, entitled “Surgical Stapling Instruments with Cam-Driven Staple Deployment Arrangements,” published Aug. 9, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,573,461, issued Nov. 5, 2013, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pub. No. 2012/0199631, entitled “Robotically-Controlled Motorized Surgical End Effector System with Rotary Actuated Closure Systems Having Variable Actuation Speeds,” published Aug. 9, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,602,288, issued Dec. 10, 2013, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pub. No. 2012/0199632, entitled “Robotically-Controlled Surgical Instrument with Selectively Articulatable End Effector,” published Aug. 9, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,301,759, issued Apr. 5, 2016, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pub. No. 2012/0203247, entitled “Robotically-Controlled Surgical End Effector System,” published Aug. 9, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,783,541, issued Jul. 22, 2014, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pub. No. 2012/0211546, entitled “Drive Interface for Operably Coupling a Manipulatable Surgical Tool to a Robot,” published Aug. 23, 2012, U.S. Pat. No. 8,479,969, issued Jul. 9, 2013; U.S. Pub. No. 2012/0138660, entitled “Robotically-Controlled Cable-Based Surgical End Effectors,” published Jun. 7, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,800,838, issued Aug. 12, 2014, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pub. No. 2012/0205421, entitled “Robotically-Controlled Surgical End Effector System with Rotary Actuated Closure Systems,” published Aug. 16, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,573,465, issued as Nov. 5, 2013, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/443,101, entitled “Control Interface for Laparoscopic Suturing Instrument,” filed Apr. 10, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,814,457, issued Nov. 14, 2017, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; and U.S. Provisional Pat. App. No. 61/597,603, entitled “Robotically Controlled Surgical Instrument,” filed Feb. 10, 2012, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.
It may be desirable to provide an adapter for coupling modular trocar seal assembly with a trocar cannula that is made for use in a robotic surgical system.
The drawings are not intended to be limiting in any way, and it is contemplated that various embodiments of the invention may be carried out in a variety of other ways, including those not necessarily depicted in the drawings. The accompanying drawings incorporated in and forming a part of the specification illustrate several aspects of the present invention, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention; it being understood, however, that this invention is not limited to the precise arrangements shown.